Cedar Vale Mennonite Church (Birmingham, Kansas, USA)

The Cedar Vale Mennonite Church (Mennonite Church), now extinct, was located near Birmingham, Jackson County, Kansas. The Mennonite settlement was started about 1880. Perhaps the first to arrive was the J. G. Longenecker family of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. The first settlers thought that a substantial Mennonite community would be formed. This was not the case, but among those who did join the settlement appear such names as Hamilton, Garber, Winey, and Mast. The only resident minister to serve the congrega­tion was Jacob L. Winey. He was ordained in the Catlin Church near Peabody, Kansas, in 1887, and moved to Jackson County in 1895, where he died in 1902. At first the members worshiped in the Methodist church in Birmingham. On one occasion a class of five were baptized in this church by J. M. Shenk of Elida, Ohio. Later, under the leadership of Jacob Winey, the congregation worshiped in the Cedar Vale schoolhouse, and after his death in the New Harmony rural Methodist church.

The congregation was never large. In 1902 twelve members were reported. By 1906 it was apparent that the congregation would not survive and the majority of the remaining members relocated in better established Mennonite settlements. Some of the members remained and became active in other denominations.